Civilization
Ventures is a deep tech venture capital firm that has
backed more than 20 companies since its inception in 2017, including
Rocket Pharma

October 29, 2018 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Deep-tech venture capital firm Civilization
Ventures is announcing an important milestone in its portfolio as
Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCKT), a clinical-stage
biotechnology company focused on developing first-in-class gene therapy
treatments for devastating rare diseases, reached and exceeded one
billion dollars in market value for the first time in late Q3 2018.

"The reality of gene therapies to revolutionize healthcare is here. We
are excited to have backed Rocket Pharmaceuticals and its CEO Gaurav
Shah, who has been a pioneer in the field for over a decade," said
Shahram Seyedin-Noor, founder and General Partner of Civilization
Ventures. Rocket Pharma is developing a pipeline across multiple rare
diseases such as Fanconi Anemia, a difficult to treat genetic disease
that leads to bone marrow failure and potentially cancer, using
cutting-edge gene and cell therapies, including CRISPR-Cas9. Rocket’s
multi-platform development approach applies the well-established
lentiviral vector and adeno-associated viral vector (AAV) gene therapy
platforms. Rocket is also developing an AAV-based gene therapy program
for an undisclosed rare pediatric disease.

“We were delighted to have Shahram Seyedin-Noor as an investor in our
business,” said Dr. Gaurav Shah, CEO of Rocket Pharma. “As an
entrepreneur himself and co-founder of Rgenix,
a clinical-stage oncology company, Shahram brings unique business
insights to his investments.”

Civilization Ventures was formed in 2017 by serial life sciences
entrepreneur Shahram Seyedin-Noor to invest in transformative
technologies across regenerative and personalized medicine, diagnostics
and genomics, digital health, artificial intelligence and synthetic
biology. The firm, listed by Silicon Valley Bank as one of the most
prolific new investors in the life sciences in its Trends
in Healthcare Investments and Exits 2018 report, has a portfolio of
over 20 frontier tech companies that have gone on to raise over $200
million in capital from other leading investors.

About Civilization Ventures:

Civilization Ventures is an early-stage investor in deep tech companies
in synthetic biology and health tech across personalized and
regenerative medicine, diagnostics and genomics, digital health, and
artificial intelligence in healthcare.